Anciients pound out a boundary- pushing recording
Vancouver buzz band looks to conquer the metal world with its with long- awaited debut album
Great albums are made up of a confluence of primordial elements, chief among them being a unique sound, a sense of timelessness ( coming exactly at the right moment), and — perhaps more than anything — real- life drama.
You can feel all three beating hard on Vancouver metal band Anciients’ debut album Heart of Oak ( out now).
A record 15 months in the making, Heart of Oak is not just a great album, it’s a monumental accomplishment that will stand as one of this year’s best metal offerings here, or anywhere else.
The project of guitarist/ vocalist Kenny Cook, guitarist/ vocalist Chris Dyck, bassist Aaron “Boon” Gustafson and drummer Matt Hanay blends progressive, metal and classic rock sensibilities with an ear for precision and detail.
Epic numbers like Overthrone and Giants are massive slabs of shape- shifting rock, Cook and Dyck trading Marty Friedman-style riffs and clean/ growling vocals, Boon crushing the bass grooves and Hannay pounding away like a mammoth.
Tales of Egyptian lore ( Raise The Sun) mingle with fantastical stories painted on psychedelic landscapes ( The Longest River) and a closer that serves as a salute to Dyck’s stepmother, who died during the recording of the album ( For Lisa).
The band’s name itself encapsulates the quartet’s sound and material quite effectively.
“We were looking for an old vibe — a classic kind of one-word thing that didn’t have to have a description like Morbid Scepter or Wicked Ninja or stuff like Autumn of the Ashes,” Dyck explains. “We wanted something simple. Boon wanted something about ‘ voyages.’ We had Goliath, and there was another band called that. There was a short list of five names, but with Ancients it was like, ‘ OK, cool.’ ”
The band first made a splash releasing a free two- song sampler recorded at New Westminster’s Bully’s Studios in 2010.
Streaming on Bandcamp, the songs Humanist and Built to Die immediately turned heads.
It wasn’t long until Anciients was shopping for a label and distributor, eventually settling on France- based metal powerhouse Season of Mist.
“Looking back now, that’s probably the best call we made,” Dyck says. “They’re good friends of ours now. Our team is just killer.”
By the time they began recording Heart of Oak with Jesse Gander at the Hive, they had added an extra “i” to their name to avoid potential disputes with other bands of the same name.
But while things were shaping up nicely for Anciients, Dyck’s stepmother was living her last days, something that affected the tight- knit friends immensely. ( Cook is engaged to Dyck’s sister.)
It completely changed the energy in the studio during the final days of recording.
“Flood And Fire and For Lisa came together during that period of time,” Cook says. “Lyrically, there are definitely hints that remind us of the tragedy that was happening around us. It was mainly during the recording process that the super- heavy stuff was going down. It played a pretty big part in what we were feeling at the time.
“There are a lot more forces at work than meets the eye. You see those things when the epic things in life happen. We just poured that into the performances too. Jesse could tell this meant a lot to us and he really worked hard on the record and tried to keep it as raw as possible. It’s a pretty live record.”
Anciients made its name live, debuting in late 2010 and quickly evolving into a band that could headline and fill the Rickshaw Theatre.
With the buzz spreading, Heart of Oak was hyped on Pitchfork and a variety of influential metal blogs, eventually landing a preview spot on iconic magazine Guitar World’s website. “It’s unbelievable,” Cook says. “In my closet I’ve got this massive box that probably weighs about 400 pounds full of Guitar World magazines. It’s mind- boggling. I never could’ve expected it would go down like that.”
Just over a week ago the band left Vancouver to join metal legends Death on their current tour of the U. S. They will also join Ohio’s Skeletonwitch in May and play the Scion Rock Fest in Memphis on June 1. It’s not an overstatement to say the next 12 months will be full of surprises.
For Anciients, it’s all about pushing boundaries, musical and otherwise.
“This stuff is tough for us to play,” Dyck says. “This may not be tough for schooled musicians, or for extreme metal bands. For us it’s pretty tough. I think it’s easier for Kenny. Kenny always tweaks things and he hears a little more. That’s good. It challenges us. It’s the point of the whole band.”
Cook and Dyck both admit Anciients’ inspiration ranges from The Cars, Heart and Camel to the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin by way of old- fashioned thrash and speed metal, jazz, and everything else in between. If you like any of these things combined in one way or another, Anciients’ Heart of Oak may just be your new favourite record.
“It has to be tricky to the ear, a little challenging for the listener,” Dyck says when asked about what makes a good Anciients song. “You also want to make it sweet and easy. We like to be heavy as f---, don’t get me wrong. But we don’t want to be harsh. It has to be smooth and nice.”